@Lakshal Perera – Anywhere outside of the city is perfect as a long as a
person can find a small town with all the amenities. There is too much light pollution
in the city to get a clear view of the sky.

As someone else who grew up dreaming about the stars and being an astronaut and who has now replaced those dreams with being a wedding photographer (but still spends most of her time looking up at the sky), I just want to say that I adore this image! Great work!

I think that art is so subjective and people always have different opinions about the execution. I know that I am guilty of looking at “critically acclaimed” pieces of work and being decidedly uncomplimentary about them. :)
I guess knowing Warren and Shirley as people, this image is perfect. All of the technical pitfalls that have been mentioned (overexposure/white balance off/etc) don’t concern me at all. I’m not fussed with technical perfection, it’s not what really motivates me to do what I do. People have said I should have used fill flash to illuminate them and expose correctly for the barn but that, in my mind, has been done before. I wanted something that hadn’t been done before, and this is what happened. :)

Thanks anyway for taking the time to write a comment. And yes, I agree, we’re pretty insignificant in this little universe and instead of worrying about the small meaningless things in life, we should spend our energy enjoying what we have during our lifetime and allowing others to enjoy in the same happiness too. :)

When the Huffington Post did a story on your picture (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/15/milky-way-wedding-photo_n_1784604.html) many people, me included, made comments on how they would shoot the same type of picture to make the picture a better wedding photograph. One person did mention how the couple looked like “Aliens” that have landed and I feel that’s exactly the effect i see in the larger version here at your page–outer-worldly. It fits this philosophy of your way of thinking I see here on your blog. Maybe also, a feeling that we are just a small part of a larger event.